Why Emirates suspended Nigerian flights indefinitely

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier, Emirates, yesterday suspended its flights to Nigeria indefinitely citing its trapped funds in Nigeria which it could not repatriate.

It also said it was yet to get its allocation from the $260m released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently to clear part of the blocked funds belonging to foreign airlines.

Daily Trust reports that Emirates had earlier suspended its flight on September 1 but reinstated it after the CBN announced the release of $260m to clear part of the outstanding funds now estimated to be over $700m.

But findings by our correspondent revealed that the recent decision by the UAE authorities to suspend visa issuance to Nigerians visiting Dubai is also another factor considered in suspending the flights as load factor has reduced for all airlines.

Daily Trust had last week reported exclusively how many airlines are considering suspension of flights to Dubai if the UAE authorities did not reverse visa ban on Nigerians.

But added to this is the growing blocked funds from ticket sales as sources said about five airlines including Emirates is yet to get the CBN’s allocation.

Emirates in a statement said it was earlier encouraged by the CBN’s response and assurance that the issue would be swiftly resolved with the subsequent clearance of the remaining funds.

It said, “However, Emirates has yet to receive an allocation of our blocked funds to be repatriated. Without the timely repatriation of the funds and a mechanism in place to ensure that future repatriation of Emirates’ funds do not accumulate in any way, the backlog will continue to grow, and we simply cannot meet our operational costs nor maintain the commercial viability of our operations in Nigeria.

“We have officially communicated our position and attended multiple hearings with the Nigerian government, and we have made our proposed approach clear to alleviate this untenable situation, including a plan for the progressive release of our funds.

“This included the repatriation and receipt of at least 80% of our remaining blocked funds by the end of October 2022, in addition to providing a guaranteed mechanism to avoid future repatriation accumulation challenges and delays.

“Under these extraordinary circumstances Emirates had no option but to suspend flights to/from Nigeria from 29 October 2022 to mitigate against further losses moving forward.”